What do I get in an information pack?The exact contents vary from year to year, but chance are thar the pack will something along the lines of:1) A cheery welcome note!2) A reminder of the deadline3) A writing style guide3) Info on what you have to write about in your section4) Character sheets for any of the characters included in your section5) Location sheets for any locations included in your section6) A few short pieces of research / background that might be helpful7) A final note of advice on how to respond to the brief

It sounds like a lot, but it in practice it isn't. For example, the writing style guide says little more than "write in whatever style you want". The final note of advice is again stating the obvious. Eg, it reminds people that things in the part of their brief entitled "Things that have already happened" have already happened, and therefore they don't need to write about them.

"Some dice only have sixes." nom, 19 Oct 2013"Piggy, I'm beginning to wonder if you are the best person to take advice from." Jaysen, 26 Sept 2014

How prescriptive are the chapter briefs?Information in the chapter briefs is kept deliberately light. I’d rather it was a fun exercise for all and have a few continuity errors than have it be overly prescribed and just “painting by numbers”. As such, please add whatever additional colour and little adventures you like to your chapter, as long as you cover the plot points listed in your brief and respect the start and end points detailed.

The best way to get an idea of these is to read some chapter briefs from previous years’ events.

"Some dice only have sixes." nom, 19 Oct 2013"Piggy, I'm beginning to wonder if you are the best person to take advice from." Jaysen, 26 Sept 2014

How much detail is given on the characters?Not much. Some years I provide photographs, and some years I don’t. There will usually be details on age, key relationships / family, appearance and background. Check out the previous years’ Scrivener project files for examples.

"Some dice only have sixes." nom, 19 Oct 2013"Piggy, I'm beginning to wonder if you are the best person to take advice from." Jaysen, 26 Sept 2014

Can I make up my own characters?Yes, add as many as good taste allows, bearing in mind that any characters you introduce won’t get mentioned anywhere other than your own chapter, and the closer the relationship to an existing character, the more likely that they’ll cause a continuity issue.

"Some dice only have sixes." nom, 19 Oct 2013"Piggy, I'm beginning to wonder if you are the best person to take advice from." Jaysen, 26 Sept 2014

Hey! I also wrote a NiaD! Where can I get one of those sweeeet forum badges?A number of forum badge files have been uploaded to http://www.pigfender.com/NiaD_Badge/You'll need to add the filename to the end of that address to see the image.

Similarly, if you took part in NiaDs 2 and 3, the file name would be 2-3.png

I've not made badges for every possible combination, only for the sequences that people have actually taken part in. If you think I've gotten this wrong, let me know.

To save you a few precious keystrokes, you can just paste the following text into your forum signature, adjusting, of course, the "1-2-3-4.png" part to get the correct PNG file representing the years you've taken part:

Thanks to persistent badgering on the forum (the threat of Jaysen's nudity being particularly persuasive), pigfender spent hours designing a t-shirt, refining the artwork, and selecting a manufacturer / distributor that is able to produce high quality prints on fantastic quality shirts AND serve people as diversely spread as Australia, USA and Truro*.

And because he drinks a lot of tea, pigfender also made a mug.

If you were wondering how you could solve your own partial nudity problems (or partially mitigate a larger full nudity problem), or if you need to carry small amounts of hot liquid without burning your hands, this could be just the opportunity you were waiting for: http://www.redbubble.com/people/niad/wo ... ite-monkey?

NiaD shirts.jpg (163.51 KiB) Viewed 1442 times

* - If you've ever tried to go to Cornwall, you'll know it takes at least 5 hours to get there, even if you're already in Cornwall.

"Some dice only have sixes." nom, 19 Oct 2013"Piggy, I'm beginning to wonder if you are the best person to take advice from." Jaysen, 26 Sept 2014